Saturday, July 12, 2008

Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

Club Dead is the third installment in Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series. The series focuses on a young Louisiana woman with telepathic powers who is pulled into the world of the supernatural. Each book introduces the reader to new parts of the supernatural world, a world that for the most part is unseen to the average human.

Because of her talent at reading people's thoughts, Sookie has found relationships difficult. Her boyfriend Bill, however, is a vampire, and therefore impervious to her telepathy. Bill has gone missing, and Sookie is sent to find him. She has mixed feelings about this, considering that Bill has probably cheated on her with an old vampire flame, and she's tired of acting on the whims of the vampire community. Her trip takes her to Mississippi in the company of Alcide, a werewolf. In order to find Bill, they must go into Club Dead, a local club for supernaturals. While there (of course), she gets into a bit of trouble that brings her into contact with the vampire King of Mississippi, who is responsible for Bill's abduction. And where humans are wary of her because of her mind-reading abilities, the vampires and Weres are more than willing to make her acquaintance.

The Sookie Stackhouse series is one of those that has a beginning but no definable end is in sight. Like the Janet Evanovich Plum series, this series has the potential of going on with books into the teens. This means that we'll have books as long as Harris has ideas.

Of the three books that I have read, this is the weakest. The action at the end was anticlimactic, with the troubles at the King of Mississippi's compound seemingly easy to overcome. I would have thought that there would have been more resistance.

One thing I did find out is that I prefer the Weres over the vampires. I like Alcide's character more than boyfriend Bill and the seductive Eric (whose alias is Leif. Ha!). I have a feeling that Alcide will be popping up in future books.

I enjoyed the book and was able to pick it up with anticipation. Sookie's first person narrative is easy to read and isn't filled with infodump and memories from previous books. Harris' books are one of the few authors that I enjoy reading the first person narrative. First person is not easy to write, so kudos! I give the book a solid B.